Drill discipline to make us battle-ready for life
“Yeh cadet! Dismount,” the deafening roar from a National Defence Academy (NDA) drill ustad (instructor) was enough to make the youngster jump off his bicycle. This was the most feared command for cadets cycling down Trishul Marg, the arterial road cutting through the sprawling NDA campus.
The drill instructors were all wellbuilt, towering, ram-rod straight, 6-ft plus, with handlebar moustaches pointing skywards. The drill cane in their hand made them look even more menacing. None of our course-mates can forget the burly subedar major Darbara Singh, our drill instructor. His shrill voice would make the drill square reverberate. His word of command during the passing-out parade could have put today’s blaring loudspeakers to shame.
Passing-out parade practices running into several hours under the scorching sun often made cadets throw up or fall. I remember him going around staring into our eyes while we waited at the quartermaster’s fort moments before marching into the drill square for the grand finale. He had a razor-sharp, crisp, cut-to-size, no-nonsense, authoritative and thundering order for all of us, “Girna nahi hai. Sab ne apni squadron ki izzat rakhni hai.” This used to have a magical effect on all cadets and come what may, not a single cadet ever fell during his entire tenure. He had an iron clamp-like grip on all the trainees.
The bond forged with the drill ustad lasts a lifetime. I remember how even after passing out from the academy, often I would make an effort to meet my drill instructor, havildar Ratti Ram. No wonder former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa made it a point to invite honorary captain Faqir Singh as a special guest to his Akbar Road residence at the Indian Air Force Day reception on October 8, 2018. Honorary captain Faqir was the air chief’s drill ustad when he was a teenaged cadet at NDA.
When I was the National Cadet Corps commander, I was given the suggestion to reduce the drill periods from the training schedule of the camps. But I stood my ground and never curtailed them.
The drill is the bedrock of discipline. Discipline has been one of the most critical battle-winning virtues, ensuring a soldierly mindset and lightning response to orders. It trains you to follow orders. My drill instructor at Charlie squadron, havildar Ratti Ram, often used to say, “Aage goli bhi chal rahi, tab bhi hukam maanna padega (You have to follow orders even when bullets are flying all around).”
Linked with the drill at NDA was an all-important test known as the drill square test (DST). It is the acid test of a cadet. For a cadet, ‘liberty’ in the academy is the lifeline. Liberty meant a Sunday outing to the beautiful town of Pune. A cadet could get liberty only after clearing his DST. On clearing this test, a cadet is empowered to wear a red-coloured lanyard on his left shoulder, which is a symbol of pride for him but envy for others.
During drill periods, we were supposed to march in step. I often recount the simple words of havildar Ratti Ram to a defaulter. “Roti milta? Ji sahib; chawal milta, Ji sahib; toh phir tumhara kadam kyon nahin milta?”
THE DRILL IS THE BEDROCK OF DISCIPLINE, ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL BATTLE-WINNING VIRTUES. MY DRILL INSTRUCTOR WOULD SAY, “AAGE GOLI BHI CHAL RAHI, TAB BHI HUKAM MAANNA PADEGA”